Biola’s first ever dance-a-thon, Biolathon, brought in $1,342.48 for Homeboy Industries and In the City after a month of fundraising and 12 hours of dancing.

Dancing for a cause

“I was pretty ecstatic knowing that we raised so much money and that it’s not just the dancers who raised that much money, but we also had donations from people who weren’t even participating in the event, who weren’t even donating to a dancer but still trying to help these two causes of Homeboy Industries and In the City both having to do with gang intervention and after-school programs,” said Ashley Namkung, senior communications studies major and director of operations for Biolathon.

Approximately 20 people participated in the dance-a-thon, which included a wide range of led instruction, including lessons from Xopoc, Swing it Up and the line dancing club. Participants also had several breaks throughout the day with guest speakers and a dodgeball tournament.

High energy

Despite the relatively small number of participants, Namkung appreciated seeing everyone enjoying themselves for a good cause. Biolathon executive director and senior cinema and media arts major Jason Khera was also impressed with the high level of energy despite the limited number of people.

“One of the things I was surprised about was the amount of energy and the… amount of enthusiasm that all the participants had,” Khera said. “So we were like this ragtag team of 20 people who just stuck around for 12 hours and we had lots of support from different groups that came and performed or taught us dances.”

At the start of the day, students were excited to learn different styles of dance and get to know the people dancing alongside them. Junior business major and Biolathon director of logistics and production Rachel Cordill hoped to combine her love for dancing with the fundraising aspect of the event.

“I’m excited to raise money for these charities. And I also just love dancing in general, it gets me super stoked. I love the energy that comes from dancing with a group of people. It was a fun concept and it’s for a great cause,” Cordill said.

Though the organizers preferred the participants stay for the whole 12 hours, dancers were able to come and go as they pleased during breaks and gap times.

“All of us on the executive committee are students, so we understand if you have something going on and we understand that if we have a lot of homework or a lot of exams that need to be done,” Namkung said.

A loss for words

While each participant aimed to raise $150 before the event, the link for donations will remain for the next two weeks in order to further support the organizations of Homeboy Industries and In the City.

Khera was impressed by everyone’s energy and the amount of money raised and looks forward to continuing the event in future years.

“It was amazing. I’m at a loss for words for how everything went and the amount of support we had and everybody’s energy throughout everything. I’m also blown away at the amount of funds,” Khera said. “At the end of the day, we ended up getting even more funds than we had at the beginning of the day, which also was an amazing surprise.”